Nichola Fletcher - herself a maker of feasts - has skilfully selected these colourful threads and woven them into a captivating account which leads us from a humble meal of potatoes provided by an angel to the gloriously extravagent spectacles of the high medieval and Renaissance; from swallowing fathoms of blubber in North America to the exquisite refinement of the Japanese Tea ceremony. In and amongst are the eccentric, the disgusting, the delicious, the flamboyant and sometimes the touchingly ordinary. Drawing on humankind's long history of feasting, we are taken behind the scenes to discover what really happened, the elements of the feast, the dramatic failures as well as the successes. Most importantly, the reason behind these extravagent activities is explained. If the concept of feasting is suggestive of a bygone age, take a fresh look - the feast lives on.

This is a very different approach to the huge subject of feasting. Instead of starting at the beginning and ploughing her way through the ages, Nichola Fletcher has looked closely at the subject and selected feasts from the point of view of the type of feast, or reason for having one. This gave her the opportunity to concentrate on material from any place or any age that interested her. As a professional cook and goldsmith, she has also been involved in making some unusual feasts herself. Although she has researched her subject painstakingly, the result is a very human approach that makes the reader feel really involved in the subject. Presented as a series of essays, the book is easy to read but hard to put down! And, as might be expected of an artist, Nichola has selected some arresting illustrations for her book of feasts.
 

MENU
1 Introduction: What is a feast?
2 Paradise: The origin of feasts and Persia's influence
3 The Golden Age: the pageantry of medieval feasting
4 Competitive Feasts: A meal on a mountain and swallowing seal blubber
 
5 Amusegeule: King Midas' last feast – was it made of gold?

6 Elements of the Feast: The role of fish
7 Chinese Banquets: An ancient food culture and a Chinese New Year feast
8 Elements of the Feast: Meat, fat and the glories of roast beef
9 Feasting in adversity: in desperate circumstances, pathetically little makes a feast

10 Soteltie: The banquet from Hell - Grimod de La Reyniere's nasty feast

11 Feasting and Fasting: going without, Mardi Gras, and bawdiness
12 The Feast of St Hubert: a nine course venison feast for the hunter
13 Ephemera: Perfume and flowers at the feast table
14 The Feast of St Antony: Pigs – the cottager's feast

15 Entremet: A beastly feast in the siege of Paris.

16 The Renaissance: Evolution of European banquets - refinement
17 Thanksgivings: from harvesting to turkeys & pumpkin pie
18 A Victorian feast: An eclectic dinner for The Acclimatisation Society of Great Britain
 19 Cha-Kaiseki: An exquisite vegan feast at the Japanese tea ceremony

20 Intercourse: A Feast in the bath, or how not to behave in polite society

21 Rites of passage : All leading up to the wedding feast
22 A Pollen feast for Ruskin: A dreamy banquet in the forests above Lake Coniston
23 Burns Supper: Feasts of fraternity, and men behaving badly
24 Eating people: Cannibal feasts

25 Amusebouche: A Feast on Horseback – the back cover photograph

26 Midwinter feasts: Light and in the darkness
27 Feasts for the Dead: Conquering fear, welcoming spirits
28 Swansong at Hogmanay: the author's extraordinary feast for the Millenium
29 Charlemagne's Tablecloth: the story of the title
Bibliographies and sources
 

Index -
Menu cards lend an air of theatricality to a meal and, of course, anticipation. To quote one 18th century French diner: "C'est l'ensemble des mots des mets qui nous font saliver; C'est un plaisir avant le plaisir, un préliminaire en soi, pratiquement un rite de passage." ("It is an assembly of words and treats that make us salivate; It is a pleasure before the pleasures, a starter in itself, practically a rite of passage.") The quotation was jotted down on an old menu displayed at an exhibition of menus in Saulieu, Burgundy.
 

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!

"Charlemagne's Tablecloth" is available, signed or unsigned by Nichola Fletcher, at £20 in the UK, £23 in Europe, and £26 outside Europe (including USA) by airmail or £23 outside Europe (including USA) by surface mail.

These prices include post and packing!